The invention was conceived in relation to the construction arts and in particular in relation to the addition of wooden decks to houses. Decks are extremely popular on new homes and are becoming extremely popular as add-ons to older homes. The National Association of Home Builders estimates that wood decks are included in nearly one-third of new homes, and are the most popular do-it-yourself construction project. A vast number of decks built in the last 30 years are in need of re-building, and many of these need to be redesigned with improved technology to make them safer. Deck collapses are not uncommon, and most deck collapses can be attributed to failure of the anchoring system anchoring the deck to the associated structure.
A common method for attaching a deck to an associated structure is nailing a deck beam to the rim joists of the structure. This method, however, is prone to failure over time. While nails generally have sufficient tensile strength to resist the vertical shearing force created by the weight of the deck and its contents, nails do not provide great strength laterally and are prone to pullout. Wood screws and lag screws can be used in place of nails to provide additional lateral strength, however screws are also prone to failure, particularly when there is localized rot or other decay proximate to the screw, or aging of the substrate causes enlargement of the hole around the screw.
A superior method for attaching a deck to an associated structure utilizes a bolt and nut assembly. Generally this method involves placing a bolt fitted with a washer into a hole which has been pre-drilled through both the deck beam and the rim-joist. The bolt is then fitted with a second washer and nut on the back side of the rim joist. The nut and second washer provide substantial resistance against pull-out forces even when there is localized rot common to older decks. Nevertheless, despite the superiority of the bolt and nut assembly, lack of access to the backside of the rim joist in many applications makes the use of the bolt and nut assembly impractical or even impossible.
Many attempts have been made to provide a device for joining two or more substrates which device provides high pull-out resistance and which can be deployed when the substrates can be accessed only from one side. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,017,800, Cohen teaches an anchor bolt with an expanding sleeve particularly suited for joining two asbestos panels. The anchor bolt taught by Cohen however, requires a bolt-sleeve made from a compressible, flexible material which makes it ill-suited for heavy-duty applications such as joining a deck to a home.
In U.S. Pat. No. 8,439,613, Prentice teaches a fastener apparatus that features projecting locking members that extend and retract when a central drive shaft is rotated. To use this fastener, however, an internal shaft must be rotated to extend locking members before the fastener apparatus may be tightened.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,241,420, Passer La Roy teaches a hollow wall fastening receptacle which can be used in combination with a screw to secure an object to a wall. This fastening receptacle requires that a hole be drilled through the wall for deployment of the device before the object can be attached to the fastening receptacle via a screw.
Thus, there is a need for a durable device for easily attaching a plurality of substrates together when only one side of the substrates is accessible. It is therefore, an object of this invention to provide a fastening device for joining substrates which may be deployed when only one side of the substrates is accessible.
A further object of this invention is to provide a fastening device which can be secured using a single tool.
A further object of this invention is to provide a fastening device which can be deployed through a substrate without pre-drilling a hole through the substrates.